Contemporary African Politics

Once seen only as a continent of poverty, violence and corruption, the Africa of today is a vibrant place where social forces demand representative governance, in the process generating fresh forms of complexities in the political, social and economic life of ordinary Africans. Whether what we are witnessing is a third liberation of the continent: the first from colonialism, the second from autocratic indigenous rule and now something far more different, is a work in progress.

This series seeks original approaches to furthering our understanding of the ensuing changes on the continent. The series includes work that progresses comparative analysis of African politics. It looks at the full range and variety of African politics in the twenty-first century covering the changing nature of African society, gender issues, economic prosperity and poverty to the development of relations between African states, external organisations and between leaders and the people they would govern. The series aims to publish work by senior scholars as well as the best new researchers and features original research monographs, thematically strong edited collections and specialised texts.

Why the Subalterns Resist in Bolivia and not in Ghana, 1st Edition

As bearers of their own emancipation, the political agency of the subaltern classes is a vexed question, a time-honoured one at that. Why do the subalterns endure injustices without revolting most of the time, but revolt sometimes against some injustices? The euphoria of ’globalisation-from-below’,…

1st Edition

Urban Politics After Apartheid presents an understanding of gendered urban politics in South Africa as an interactive process. Based on long-term fieldwork in the former townships 20 years after the end of apartheid, it provides an in-depth analysis of how activists and local politicians engage…

A Century of Struggle and the Future of Constitutionalism, 1st Edition

Kenya, like the rest of Africa, has gone through three sets of constitutional crises. The first related to the trauma of colonialism and struggle for independence. The second a period of constitutional dictatorship and the clamor for reform. The third, most recent crisis, being one of identity,…

1st Edition

The period since the 1980s has seen sustained pressure on Africa’s political elite to anchor the continent’s development strategies in neoliberalism in exchange for vitally needed development assistance. Rafts of policies and programmes have come to underpin the relationship between continental…

Institutions, Participation and Accountability, 1st Edition

Africa has made notable progress in its nascent democracy but with uneven performance across countries. However, across the board, challenges abound. Central to Africa’s checkered democratic narrative is the weakness of its democratic institutions, participatory mechanisms and accountability…

Political Marginalisation of Kenya's Nubians, 1st Edition

As an ethnic minority the Nubians of Kenya are struggling for equal citizenship by asserting themselves as indigenous and autochthonous to Kibera, one of Nairobi’s most notorious slums. Having settled there after being brought by the British colonial authorities from Sudan as soldiers, this appears…

1st Edition

Each country in southern Africa has a unique history but in all of them socio-economic inequalities and high poverty levels weaken the governments’ legitimacy and represent a challenge to models of economic development. One key issue appears to be the solution of the land question. This vital…

Evidence from Cash Transfer Programmes, 1st Edition

Africa is now in a much-improved position to support its poor and vulnerable people. It has more money, more policy commitment and abundant intervention programmes. Yet the number of citizens living lives of desperation, or at risk of destitution, is at an all-time high, and still rising. What is…

Challenges, Agency and Resistance, 1st Edition

All over the world, there is growing concern about the ramifications of globalization, late-modernity and general global social and economic restructuring on the lives and futures of young people. Bringing together a wide body of research to reflect on youth responses to social change in Africa,…

Local and International Politics Intertwined, 1st Edition

The Horn of Africa has long been one of the most dynamic and politically turbulent sub-regions on the African continent. Host to great ancient civilizations, diverse peoples, and expansive states, the region has experienced massive social, economic, and political transformations which have given…

Aid Reform and Technologies of Governance in Ghana, 1st Edition

Global development actors such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund claim that the shift to the poverty reduction strategy framework and emphasis on local participation address the social cost of earlier adjustment programs and help put aid-receiving countries back in control of…